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The Jewish Deaf Association has been given a £180,000 boost after the City of London Corporation’s charitable funder awarded it a grant to support its day-centre and sign-language services.

City Bridge Trust chose the North Finchley-based JDA in order to help it run the Ageing Well Together centre, which helps provide lip-reading and sign-language (BSL) classes for the deaf and deafblind in and around Barnet.

“JDA offers a much-needed service to older BSL users, who often struggle to engage with mainstream welfare services,” said Alison Gowman, chair of the City of London Corporation’s City Bridge Trust Committee.

“It provides a vital resource that reduces isolation and exclusion, improves physical and mental health and is often a lifeline for older deaf and deaf-blind people.”

Brenda Sterne, one of about 200 JDA service users, said hearing loss affected people of “all ages, faiths and at all stages of life,” adding: “This grant will benefit our most vulnerable clients.

JDA beneficiary Brenda Sterne

“Many of them are seriously and additionally disadvantaged by restricted mobility or learning difficulties, some suffering from dementia.”

City Bridge Trust is London’s biggest independent grant giver, making grants of £20 million a year to tackle disadvantage across the capital.